More and more teams work in remote corners of the globe. As a result, it is not uncommon for the members of a single project team to gather and present to each other using telephones and various remote conferencing technologies. Numerous technologies exist to facilitate such exchanges including International Business Machine Corp.'s Collaboration Tools (e.g., e-meetings). (International Business Machine Corp. and e-meetings are trademarks of International Business Machine Corp. in the United States, other countries or both).
This trend has allowed businesses to distribute work to teams composed of the most cost-effective, talented people, regardless of their locations. However call-in meetings and presentations also have a number of distinct disadvantages. One of the most notable of these disadvantages is that participants who are not speaking are often distracted, and may multi-task by using other computer applications while a speaker is presenting their materials. While few of us would be rude enough to pick up a newspaper and read it during a speaker's presentation in a face-to-face meeting, most people think nothing of checking their e-mail, exchanging instant messages, or working on another assignment in the middle of a presentation that is being done by a remote speaker. This leads to inefficient meetings and, in some cases, such distractions actually detract from the presentation, itself.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.